Store Vs. Online Purchase

[hwmbrogden]

Hi guys. As of this Friday I am going to be new to the Mac community and I am going to purchase a MacBook 13inch aluminum with the lower specs. The one that is 1300 compared to 1600. I was just wondering whether it would be better to purchase the computer in store rather than online? I have heard that when you buy online you get a 'newer' computer but I find this far fetched, yet reasonable.

I have no problem updating the machine once I get it because I usually like doing those things like a nerd so having something that is 'out of date' is not my concern. I am primarily concerned with the quality and timing. Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[scienide09]

I have no idea about 'newer' machines online. I suppose that's feasible, if Apple is still shipping them from overseas.

In store will be faster. You can walk in, pick one out, and walk out. No shipping times, and therefore no waiting to use your new computer.

 

[hwmbrogden]

I have no idea about 'newer' machines online. I suppose that's feasible, if Apple is still shipping them from overseas.

In store will be faster. You can walk in, pick one out, and walk out. No shipping times, and therefore no waiting to use your new computer.

That's very true. I am leaning towards the store. Am I correct in saying that you get 1 year of apple care free with the purchase?

 

[kastenbrust]

That's very true. I am leaning towards the store. Am I correct in saying that you get 1 year of apple care free with the purchase?

Yes you do, on all Apple purchases. (Applecare = Warranty)

 

[hwmbrogden]

Yes you do, on all Apple purchases. (Applecare = Warranty)

That's awesome. I am very excited about my purchase. Does anyone have any tips in general?

 

[kastenbrust]

That's awesome. I am very excited about my purchase. Does anyone have any tips in general?

Dont drop it on the way home!

Jokes aside, If you arn't completely happy with it, say its scratched in one corner, or even slightly dented etc then you have 14 days to take it back to any Apple store and get it exchanged no questions asked.

I recommend opening it in the store and turning it on, to check everything is 110% perfect and just what you want, no finger prints or even scratches, and if there is, use the 14 day return period to get it swapped straight away.

If you have any questions about how to use the computer as its your first Apple computer, or how to use any of Apples software, then you can ask any of the assistants in store to show you how to use it, or even book free lessons for more thorough one to one tutorials. You can also phone Applecare if you have a quick question from home, say you dont know a keyboard shortcut or the such.

Finally as your converting from the Windows world, dont be sucked into old habits like installing an anti virus etc. There are no viruses for Mac whatsoever so just relax and forget about it.

 

[hwmbrogden]

Dont drop it on the way home!

Jokes aside, If you arn't completely happy with it, say its scratched in one corner, or even slightly dented etc then you have 14 days to take it back to any Apple store and get it exchanged no questions asked.

I recommend opening it in the store and turning it on, to check everything is 110% perfect and just what you want, no finger prints or even scratches, and if there is, use the 14 day return period to get it swapped straight away.

If you have any questions about how to use the computer as its your first Apple computer, or how to use any of Apples software, then you can ask any of the assistants in store to show you how to use it, or even book free lessons for more thorough one to one tutorials. You can also phone Applecare if you have a quick question from home, say you dont know a keyboard shortcut or the such.

Finally as your converting from the Windows world, dont be sucked into old habits like installing an anti virus etc. There are no viruses for Mac whatsoever so just relax and forget about it.

Thank you so much for the help. Quick question already haha. I have about 60 gigs of music on my external HD that I currently hook up to my Acer Laptop. Would it be wise to throw all that music on the new MacBook? For convenience it would be great, though would it slow down the computer significantly? I realize that RAM has a lot do with speed but I just feel like having that much music on the computer must bog it down some.

 

[kastenbrust]

Thank you so much for the help. Quick question already haha. I have about 60 gigs of music on my external HD that I currently hook up to my Acer Laptop. Would it be wise to throw all that music on the new MacBook? For convenience it would be great, though would it slow down the computer significantly? I realize that RAM has a lot do with speed but I just feel like having that much music on the computer must bog it down some.

How full your hard drive is has nothing to do with how fast your computer runs if your using a Mac, on Windows it slows it down, but on Mac you can do what you want, if its more convenient for you, then go for it.

 

[hwmbrogden]

How full your hard drive is has nothing to do with how fast your computer runs if your using a Mac, on Windows it slows it down, but on Mac you can do what you want, if its more convenient for you, then go for it.

Ahh this I did not know. Why is it that on a Mac it doesnt matter while a PC its an issue?

 

[kastenbrust]

Ahh this I did not know. Why is it that on a Mac it doesnt matter while a PC its an issue?

Its complicated so i wouldn't worry about it, but basically its to do with the way the Operating System puts files onto the hard drive for permanent storage, Windows uses a Fat32 or NTFS file system thats a bit like puking all over the hard drive and hoping all the bits land on the hard drive, then when you go to play a song or open a photo it has to search through the whole jumbled pile of files to find one file, whereas Apples HFS+ file system neatly lays the files out in order like dominoes, then catalogues them in a list so they can be accessed quickly, and easily.

Thats why you have to Defragment a Windows computer every now and again, to put all the files back in order, or it slows down over time to a snails pace, but thats a waste of a good day as it can take ages for the defragmentation to happen.

 

[hwmbrogden]

Its complicated so i wouldn't worry about it, but basically its to do with the way the Operating System puts files onto the hard drive for permanent storage, Windows uses a Fat32 or NTFS file system thats a bit like puking all over the hard drive and hoping all the bits land on the hard drive, then when you go to play a song or open a photo it has to search through the whole jumbled pile of files to find one file, whereas Apples HFS+ file system neatly lays the files out in order like dominoes, then catalogues them in a list so they can be accessed quickly, and easily.

Thats why you have to Defragment a Windows computer every now and again, to put all the files back in order, or it slows down over time to a snails pace, but thats a waste of a good day as it can take ages for the defragmentation to happen.

Thank you for the explanation. I guess it is safe to say that I haven't been exposed to the 'light' in the ways of how PCs do things. I have always just used them for convenience not reliability. Hoping that the MacBook will have a working cdrom/dvdrom drive all of the time haha.

 

[wahoo10]

If you buy a refurb from the online site, and have to return it for some reason, do you have to return it via mail? Or can you take it into the store?

 

[hwmbrogden]

If you buy a refurb from the online site, and have to return it for some reason, do you have to return it via mail? Or can you take it into the store?

I'm pretty sure that if you have apple care you can just bring it into the store and get it looked at for free. I'm sure you could still bring it in even without apple care, its just a matter of paying for service.

 

[sickmacdoc]

That's very true. I am leaning towards the store. Am I correct in saying that you get 1 year of apple care free with the purchase?

Yes you do, on all Apple purchases. (Applecare = Warranty)

That is almost correct- without purchasing AppleCare at the same time (or within the first 90 days), your standard one year warranty will cover you the same as AppleCare on hardware problems, but phone support will only be free for the first 90 days. AppleCare covers phone support in addition to hardware support for the full time of the standard warranty plus the two additional years it adds on top of the standard warranty.

So,
Standard warranty=1 year hardware support, 90 days free phone support
AppleCare= 3 years total coverage of hardware and free phone support

 

[EB66]

definitely go to the store because then you can drool over all of the other apple products